A GDF is
not for the storage of nuclear waste. We must
all understand, the aim of the facility is purely, once and
for all, disposal. Other than for a number
of years* whilst the facility is filled, the waste will not
and can not be retrievable.

It is accepted that the containers the waste is buried in, will
degrade and leak. The nuclear waste can only be contained, for
the length of time to ensure that it will no longer be a risk
to life, by a geological barrier. No engineered structure has
ever been designed to last for a fraction of that time.

That is why the Nation must have the safest and best geological
barrier to contain the facility. The clue is in the name, a
GEOLOGICAL Disposal Facility.

The
Legacy Waste is already here! – Misunderstanding or sleight
of hand?

When the
original MRWS process was proposed, it was to be constructed
to hold existing waste. Time and time again it has been said
that, "as Sellafield hosts 75% of the Nations existing
High Level Waste, Cumbria is the best place for a GDF as we
shouldn’t ship the waste around the country. It just isn’t
safe".

The NDA clearly think it is safe as
they proudly boast of millions of incident free miles of nuclear
waste transport since the early 60s.

If we forget the fact that waste is continually being moved
into Sellafield, we must not miss the fact that the government
has now moved the goalposts with MRWSII. The new proposals are
for a GDF to hold new build waste from the proposed new reactors,
as and when they come on line. This means that:-

•
The GDF needs to be many times the size that was originally
proposed

• There will be more new build waste in the GDF than the
“legacy waste” already here**

• This new waste will come from all over the nation

And so......why
should we accept that Cumbria will become the nation’s
nuclear dustbin, just because it is politically expedient.

The waste isn’t already here and the geology is safer
elsewhere!

*This
would probably be around 100 years without new build and potentially
200 or more with it, to allow highest activity waste to cool

**
in terms of radioactivity, but not volume. Radioactivity dictates
GDF size to allow heat dispersal

Ever
wondered if we should have faith in our politicians?

The deadline
for responses to the MRWS II consultation has closed. However
the determination of DECC to dispose of high level radioactive
waste somewhere under West Cumbria continues. They continue
to thrust onward with these plans, despite geological evidence
that clearly shows the area to be unsuitable for the purpose
of siting a GDF (Geological Disposal Facility). This evidence
continues to go unchallenged.

Due to their poor management of the consultation the original
deadline was extended from the 5th December until 19th December.
Strange though! No-one told the minister responsible.

On Tuesday 10th December 2013 at 10.45 am Rt Hon Michael Fallon
MP (Minister of State for Energy) gave evidence to the House
of Lords Select Committee for Science and Technology inquiry
on Nuclear Follow-Up. He appeared to be totally out of touch
with what DECC, his own department, was actually doing.

Watch the full recording of Michael
Fallon MP here: The GDF questions start with Lord Selborne
at (real time) 11:27:46

To read the transcript download the pdf
document here: Transcript The GDF “evidence”
starts at Q26 (Lord Selborne) but also look out for Lord O’Neill’s
“It seems that the interests of bed and breakfast providers
in other parts of England were of greater significance than
finding a bed for nuclear waste”. By the way, Lord O’Neill
is the former chair of the Nuclear Industry Association.

Our
Politicians don't have dual standards, do they?

A
company which planned to bury up to a million cubic metres of
nuclear waste near Distington has failed in its last-ditch bid
to win approval for the scheme.

Endecom UK had hoped to use the former opencast coal mining site
at Keekle Head, Pica, to dispose of low-level and very low-level
waste, mostly from Sellafield.

The firm lodged an appeal after its plan was rejected by Cumbria
County Council, and the arguments were aired at a public inquiry
in June.

But Eric Pickles, Secretary of State for Communities and Local
Government, has upheld the council’s decision, it has now
been revealed.

Commenting upon the recent Keekle Head appeal, Councillor Tim
Knowles whose ward is Cleator Moor East and Frizington said “It
was a cheap and easy option to put this stuff into holes in the
ground and we were totally against it."

“We are totally against the proliferation of nuclear sites
in this way and just about everybody in the local community opposed
it. There was a huge public response.”